


Operation: Ask Out Black Canary.

by anxiouspunk



Category: Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) (2020)
Genre: F/F, Family Bonding, Fluff and Humor, Gen, I’m giving her a much needed break from constantly being forced to witness helena and dinah’s bs, Light-Hearted, Pre-Relationship, T rating for cass’s swears helena keeps trying to get her to stop saying with no avail, Useless Lesbian Helena Bertinelli, a lot of antics are afoot, and needs direction, and renee isn’t in here at all I’m sorry to our other resident grumpy lesbian, bc cass also knows helena is far too much of a dork to pull this off herself, bc helena essentially loses all ability to function when she sees dinah, but it’s mostly full of helena and cass bonding, but let’s be honest she wouldn’t want to be involved in all this bullshit anyway, cass is basically helena’s hype man, enter cass!, harley’s only in here super briefly, helena wants to ask out dinah but as well all know is smooth as sandpaper, much like myself, so helena/dinah is the overall theme, who helena reluctantly lets help her come up with a strategy, yay family bonding!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-26
Updated: 2020-04-26
Packaged: 2021-03-01 16:57:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23850400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anxiouspunk/pseuds/anxiouspunk
Summary: “Look, maybe I don’t know a lot about dating and that garbage – but also, do you know anything about it either..?”Helena opened her mouth to rebuttal, but no words followed. She might know a slight amount over Cass, just due to maturity and age, but in all honestly that wasn’t a hell of a lot. Definitely not a grand canyon’s difference; it probably wouldn’t even fill up a sandbucket.“See?!” Cass grinned “But two is better then one – so if we put our heads together, we could come up with way for you to totally score with Dinah!”“Why would we put our heads..together?..”-When Helena tried to come up with a way to finally ask out Dinah, enlisting a child wasn't really a part of it. But Cass might prove to be more of a help then she expected..
Relationships: Helena Bertinelli & Cassandra Cain, Helena Bertinelli/Dinah Lance
Comments: 20
Kudos: 156





	Operation: Ask Out Black Canary.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey y'all!
> 
> It's been a second; I've been trying to cook up some fics, and like I usually do when I have too many ideas, I can't finish anything. I wanna make a second part to my last fic, but given how long that's gunna be, I needed something for the meantime. So I polished this off! I love me some characters bonding with their scrappy child co-characters they essentially adopted, so this was a no brainer. 
> 
> Enjoy!

“Hey! Hey Dinah...you-you um, you look really nice today!..I mean, not that you  _ don’t  _ look good every other day o-or anything..– in fact, you do look amazing all the time, I was just trying to say, I-I wanted to ask you..aw  _ fuck..” _

Helena hung her head, feeling like she’d been here for hours. Maybe just about twenty minutes in reality, but her own ineptitude made it feel longer. Her plan to ask out Dinah was going perfectly smooth, as expected – actually, all she was doing was practising. Standing infront of the mirror, working her lines and trying to make her face appear like it’s constant resting position wasn’t anger. Her plan hadn’t even taken  _ off  _ yet. 

It was just that Dinah was gorgeous and funny and had a heart bigger and tougher then anyone Helena’s seen, and she’s been crushing hard for months now. How the hell is she just suppose to look Dinah right in those beautiful warm brown eyes and say the words  _ wanna go on a date? _

Laughable.

She sighed out, trying to qualm her nerves. It’s okay, she just had to get a better handle on it; practice makes perfect after all. She lifted her head and tried to stand tall, looking herself right in the eyes. 

“Hey, Dinah – I wanted to uh, tell you something, for a long time. I..I really like you – you’re beautiful and amazing and, well, can kick anyone’s ass, and I..I just, um, with that, I-I wanted to know if maybe you wanted to go out sometime, um..– with me!, that is, uh..–”

“What’re you doing?”

“Fucking christ!” 

Helena jumped a couple inches in surprise, whipping to the doorway to find none other Cass standing there. Helena, who was supposte to have the apartment to herself today, blanched a the tween who only blinked curiously back. She can’t believe a  thirteen-year-old snuck up on her. Her uncles would be ashamed just at the idea of it. 

“ _What_ -how the hell did you get in here?!” 

“You guys gave me a key.” Cass furrowed “Also, I can pick locks.” 

“But what’re you  _ doing –” _

“Harley dropped me off.” She shrugged, walking in and sliding a hand along the counter “Says she’s doing a high-stakes mission and I can’t come. But uh, what’re _you_ doing in here, trying pick-up scenarios on yourself?” 

Helena growled in response, stomping past Cass to stalk into the living room. The tween followed her all the way to the window in the living room that faces the street, lifting it open with a slam and sticking her head out. And sure enough, she spots Harley down on the curb, climbing into the car. She’d traded Dinah’s back for some god-awful pink convertible thing with neon deco and Helena’s head honestly hurts to look at it.

“Ey! Harley!” She snarled, watching the bleach blonde head spin around and up to the bungalow apartment “I’m not a fucking free babysitting service!!” 

“Sorry Stringbean!” Harley pretended to make a sympathetic face that Helena knew held no sympathy whatsoever “This job’s too big of a deal and got too many scary bad-guys – Cassie really can’t come on this one!” 

“But you can’t just drop her off while I’m trying to do shit –”

“Just this one time! You wouldn’t force me to take ‘er back and endanger our little girl, would ya?..” Harley asked oh-so-sweetly, a faux-innocent smile gracing over the red lips. 

Helena grit her teeth together, white-knuckled fingers gripping the windowsill. Harley had her there and she knew it; Helena, like her teammates, would do anything to keep Cass safe. In fact, it was often Helena who protests to Cass adventuring on these often violent and dangerous missions of Harley’s; she was still just a kid and there were things she didn’t need to see yet.

So, no matter what she wanted to today or the free time she was gunna enjoy, Helena was watching over the kid and they all knew it.

“..Fucker!” was all she could say as Harley blew her a kiss, slamming the window closed. She spun back to Cass who was looking rather smug. 

“See? Told ya.” 

Helena growled again, stalking off into the kitchen this time. It didn’t deter Cass, who followed at her heels. 

“Look, if you  _ hate me _ so much, I can go somewhere else –”

“I don’t hate you.” Helena objected, voice immediately dialing back in it’s harshness “I was just aiming to do some stuff on my own today.”

“I –”

“And  _ don’t  _ you go off somewhere on your own!” Helena pointed a finger at Cass with the toughest parental glare she could give “This city is full of  pedophilic scum and child snatchers..” 

“I’ll remember that..” Cass furrowed, this time keeping from rolling her eyes “So, are we gunna talk about how I caught how pretending to ask out Dinah?” 

“No.” Helena said sharply, tossing the dishes from this morning’s breakfast into the sink. She flinched a little at the loud  _ clank. _ Note: don’t be  overly rough with the dishes unless you wanna sink your hands into a pool of glass shards.

“It’s about  _ time  _ honestly.” Cass, this time, did roll her eyes “If you kept making  googly eyes at her I was gunna have to start bringing a puke-bag over here with me..” 

“What – I am not – that’s not – what the hell are you talking about?!” Helena finally got out, throwing back the sink tap and grabbing the soap – that lemon scented one that Renee makes them buy that she hates. 

“That you’re totally in love with her,  duh.” Cass hopped onto the counter beside the sink “You can see it from space – you’re always looking at her with hearts for eyes, you laugh at  _ everything  _ she says, and everytime she touches you or even just punches you in the arm you can’t talk after.” 

“I –”

“Oh, and do you wanna talk about when she told you that new jacket made you look cute and you got so flustered you tried to walk out the door but you didn’t know it wasn’t open and walked right into it?” 

“...Has Harley been teaching you how to psychoanalyze or something?” Helena growled,  grabbing the brush so she can angrily start scrubbing the food-stained plates, slamming them onto the drying rack.

“Just callin’ them like I see em’.” Cass shrugged, grin coming over.

“Kid, even if you were right, it’s none of your business whether –”

“I can help you!” 

Helena blanched, raising a brow to the excited hope Cass was giving her “..That’s a no.” 

“Oh c’mon! Do you have any better strategies?” 

“Yes! The ones I was  _ trying _ to work on earlier”

“Oh yeah, that looks like it’s working  _ really  _ well..”

“Well it’d be going better if I’d gotten some time to practice before  _ someone  _ barged in on me!” Helena took the brush she was angrily scrubbed the frying pan with and pointed it at Cass, who put up her hands. 

“Alright! Well, you can work on stuttering out compliments to Dinah and eventually get around to asking her,  _ I dunno,  _ into the next millennia – or, I can help you with a fullproof game plan!” 

“Tell me then,”  She took the cleaned pot and stacked it behind the plates, moving onto rinsing off the utensils  “what the hell a  thirteen-year-old would know about asking people out.” 

“ Well I know you don’t get anyone to say yes to you if you can’t even get the sentence out!  And I’ve seen enough t.v and movies; I at least know how you’re  _ suppose  _ to ask out someone.” 

“Yeah, well, I’ve seen t.v and movies too –”

“No you haven’t. You never know what references we’re making. That’s why nobody wants you on their trivia team during games.”

“I do too! And I –  _ hey, where did you –”  _ Helena grumbled, snatching the bag of barbeque chips Cass was munching on that Renee had already stuck a claim in and would throw a fit if they’d been eaten “– I can configure enough from them to know what to say to ask someone out.”

“Fine,” Cass folded her arms, watching the assassin stack the silverware into their holders to dry and then drain the sink “so you can ask Dinah out, but what’re you gunna do  _ after that  _ huh??” 

“What?” Helena squinted.

“What’re you gunna do  after you ask her out? Like, where’re you gunna take her? What’re  you guys gunna do?”

“Oh, um, well..” 

Helena honestly hadn’t thought of that. She figured maybe a dinner or something; either to a nice restaurant, or maybe she’d cook Dinah something (she wasn’t a master chef, but her  Italian genes held her up enough that she at least knew a couple dishes). But she hadn’t thought about it seriously. It was a big enough  endeavour just figuring out how she was even gunna  _ ask her;  _ Helena hadn’t even considered what would happen if she was successful.  Cass didn’t miss the brief panic that crossed Helena either.

“ See?! Admit it, you have no idea! And you need a plan!” 

“I-I’ll figure it out!” Helena pushed it off, starting to walk out the kitchen “It’s not that hard; people either go to dinner or, I dunno, for a walk in the park or something...” 

“Yeah, if you’re in your eighties! You need actual,  _ good  _ ideas,” Cass got off the counter and started following Helena, shooting down her idea that maybe if she walked away she’d shake off the tween “Like do you even know where Dinah likes to go to eat? Or where to even  _ go  _ to eat that’s nice enough to take a date?! I know you don’t go outside; you’re always inside training and punching stuff. You can’t just ask Dinah out and then totally screw it up –”

“ _Look,_ Cass,” Helena cut off sternly, spinning around to her with bulging eyes trying to narrow into a glare “how I handle my business is on me; if I even really _wanted_ to ask Dinah out, which I’ve never _officially_ said I wanted to, other people, especially _thirteen-year-olds,_ don’t need to be involved in it in any way. I’m dealing with it and I don’t need help. Alright?” 

Helena thought that would be that, finishing up her speech by pushing past the smaller body into the hall, washing her hands of it by walking away. Cass didn’t say anything, but she could feel the sharp eyes on her back as she watched her go.

“She likes you too you know.” 

Helena stopped. Turned, very slowly, back to Cass with a furrowed brow. Cass smiled in smug triumph. 

“..What?” 

“I can’t believe you didn’t notice – but, you also don’t understand 90% of jokes so,” Cass skips back towards her “She always sits next to you when we’re all hanging out, she’s constantly teasing you which is  _ gross  _ by the way, she calls you by nicknames all the time like ‘ H’ or ‘killer’ or whatever, and she’s always checking out your arms which is  _ also  _ gross.” 

Helena didn’t know what to say to that. Those were big accusations she wasn’t sure if she should put her hopes into. Dinah...likes her too? Her hands just nervously went up and down her folded arms, not coming up with any words. 

“My-my arms..?” She eventually stuttered out, eyes flicking down to her bicep “Why..why would –”

“I dunno!” Cass scrunches up her nose “I can’t read Dinah’s mind! Harley said one time that girls like buff arms, if they also like girls – and you’re like, hella jacked.” 

“Huh..” 

“So now do you believe me??” 

“I don’t know – look, if this is another stupid prank..” Helena leaned down slightly, pointing a finger into Cass’s face “like that time you and Harley tried to put my hand in a bowl of water while I was sleeping –”

“It’s not a prank!” Cass swatted Helena’s hand away “And I’m not here trying to make you piss your pants again.” 

“Funny.” 

“Look, maybe  _ I  _ don’t know a lot about dating and that  garbage – but also, do  _ you _ know anything about it either..?” 

Helena opened her mouth to rebuttal, but no words followed. She might know a slight amount over Cass, just due to maturity and age, but in all honestly that wasn’t a hell of a lot. Definitely not a grand canyon’s difference; it probably wouldn’t even fill up a sandbucket. 

“See?!” Cass grinned “But two  is better then one – so if we put  our heads together, we could come up with way for you to totally score with Dinah!” 

“Why would we put our  heads.. _ together?..” _

“Nevermind.” Cass rolled her eyes, snatching Helena’s sleeve “C’mon – before we  do anything, we’re gunna need brain power food and a plan.” 

-

Apparently, the must needed ‘brain power’ food meant ice cream. Helena sat opposite Cass on the wooden bench, stirring around the cookies & cream in her cup as Cass wolfed down her rainbow monstrosity, sprinkles still dotting around her chin. 

“Okay,” Cass placed down a pad and pencil, wiping off her chin with her sleeve “we can write down our ideas here, like a brainstorm. It probably would’ve been better to use Renee’s pegboard, but I’m pretty sure she’ll kick our asses if we move around her ‘battle plan’s or whatever..” 

“Probably..” Helena nodded. They both knew Renee would never harm a hair on Cass’s head and she wasn’t even tall enough to reach Helena’s neck, but nobody was going to undermine her  tenacity to try. She watched Cass scribble something on the header in messy printing –  _ Operation: Ask Out Black Canary.  _

“So, what’re your ideas?..” 

“Well, I  _ was  _ planning on just being upfront and asking her like I was trying to do earlier –”

Cass made a loud, game-show buzzer noise. Helena blinked back. 

“That idea is crap. We’re here to make a better one dummy, remember?”

“I’m not a dummy.” Helena furrowed.

“Look, don’t you have  _ any  _ other ideas?”

“Well I..I was..I-I don’t know!” Helena huffed, feeling her cheeks grow red from being on the spot “It’s not like I was around to see a lot of great romances!” 

“Well, what about your parents or something?..” 

Helena paused. She tried to recall her parents from the deep parts of her memory, her elegant mother in her  designer made dresses and her powerful father with his sharp suits and scratchy stubbled chin that would always scratch her when he kissed her cheek goodnight. They did love each other quite a lot, her parents; sometimes Helena would catch them dancing to the classical record her father had put on, or the nights they’d dress up so they could go out for a fancy dinner. He’d always shower her mother in praise and gifts, this  expensive perfume or another decedent necklace. An idea popped into Helena’s head. 

“M-My father, he was always giving my mother gifts – nice ones, usually jewellery or diamonds.”  She explained, perking up “I can do that, I have the money. Does..does Dinah want a diamond..? I can get a really nice once –”

“Ew, no!” Cass shot down, face scrunching up “You can’t give her a  _ diamond. _ Dinah is way too real for that, she’d hate it.” 

Helena closed her mouth after, immediately realizing the kid was right. Dinah has taste, but she hates that kind of flashy stuff, fancy things that’re purely meant to show off. Dinah  _ was  _ too real, too good, for that kind of thing, which is something Helena loves about her.

“But the whole ‘getting her a gift’ thing isn’t  _ awful _ – we can do something with that.” Cass made a pullet point with  _ give Dinah a gift(?)  _ next to it “We just gotta make sure it’s something small, so she doesn’t think you’re trying to buy her or something. What does Dinah like?” 

“I mean, lots of stuff; rap music, spicy food, cinnamon red heart candy, old or cool car models, bad reality t.v – oh!–”

“ _Alright,_ we get it, you’re in love with her, is any of this stuff actually useful?”

“I was  _ going  _ to say she likes that Bachelor show, and they give roses to the girls on that show – should I give her a rose?..” 

“ _No_ – that’s almost as bad as the diamond idea!” Cass huffed, crossing out ~~_flowers_~~ under the bulletpoint with ~~_diamonds_~~ next to it “Besides flowers are kind of overdone.” 

Helena groaned, head dipping back “Well I’m the only one coming up with ideas here!”

“Fine – flowers are boring, food is kinda  _ ehh,  _ so..what about music?” She stuck her pinky into her ice cream cup, grazing the last of it along the sides and popping it into her mouth; this kid was picking up way too many bad habits from Harley “You could get her a CD for someone she likes and put a note in it or something, or..oh! You could get tickets to a show and invite her with you, that’s so much better!” 

“Like a concert?” 

“Yeah, you can go to see someone perform like a DJ or whatever – live music. She’ll like that.” Cass excitedly scribbled the idea down, underlining it a couple times in emphasis. 

“How do you know?” Helena asked skeptically; again, it’s wasn’t like someone Cass’s age would know what qualifies as a ‘good’ date, and who’s to say Dinah would want to go do that?

“Because Dinah’s  _ cool.”  _ Cass said in a tone that implies Helena should’ve known that already “She actually goes out and probably does that kinda stuff all the time, where you just sit around in your guys’s apartment all day praticing your knife throwing and have to google movie references we make.” 

“Yes, we’ve already established that I’m in no way cool..” Helena rolled her eyes, scraping out the last of her ice cream

“No, you’re cool.” was the rebuttal, confusing Helena even more “You’re just not cool in the way Dinah is.” 

“What the hell does that even mean?”

“It  _ means  _ that you’re cool in like, you can take down an army of ten dudes all by yourself and you can throw knives and you ride a motorcycle. But you’re not cool in that you can’t even have a normal conversation and that one time Dinah wore a crop-top you couldn’t even look her in the eye.”

Helena would’ve countered had she actually had a solid point. Instead she had no option but to sit there and let herself be insulted by a tween. 

“Okay!” Cass slammed down her pen in  deceleration, reaching across the table with a grasping hand “Gimme your phone.” 

“Why?” 

“Well now that we got an idea for what we’re gunna do, I need to look up shows to buy tickets for!”

“I can do that myself you know..” Helena said, yet found herself sliding her phone out her jean pocket and reluctantly placing it in Cass’s sticky  fingers.

“You won’t get the right ones.” She swiped the phone from the assassin, sitting back “And you barely know how to work your phone.” 

“I do so!” 

“You don’t use it! There’s like, fuck all on it – no apps, no photos, like three songs, nothing!” 

“Language!” Helena snapped, despite knowing it was a lost cause “And there’s a photo on it, right there!” 

She tapped the phone screen as Cass typed, pointing to the background. It was a photo of all of them actually; the birds and Harley and Cass, taken on one of their days off to the fair, depicted not only by the bright carnival lights behind them but the oversized cotton candy Cass was chewing on and the giant teddy bear Helena won for her doing the darts game, whereupon she got every bullzeye. 

“I put that on for you!” Cass shot back, rolling her eyes as she went back to work, scrolling  along. It took a couple minutes until she found something, perking up. 

“Hey, I got it! You know this club,  The Green Room? I’ve heard Dinah and Harley talk about it a couple times..” 

“Yeah, it’s one of the ones Dinah likes..” 

“I know – they put on dj’s and live music and stuff, and they’re putting on live music next weekend! It’s perfect!” 

“You think Dinah will want to go to that?..” 

“Doi! It’s a live show and at a place she likes; there’s no way she’ll turn you down for that.” Cass assured, Helena watching her fingers fly across the screen and wondering what she was doing until Cass finally slid back the phone, saying “..There, I ordered you two tickets.” 

“What?!” Helena furrowed, fumbling with her phone to see, in fact, a check-out page for a tickets website and  _ 50.00  _ at the bottom “How-How did you even –”

“I memorized your credit card number, it’s whatever.” 

“ _What?!_ When did you memorize –”

“That’s not important right now! What’s important is that we got your date all set-up, one Dinah will  definitely be interested in.” Cass pushed on, despite Helena knowing that later  today  she’ll have to call her credit card people to change  her number “And now we gotta work on how you’re actually gunna  _ ask  _ her.” 

“What do you  mean? Wouldn’t I just gunna give  the tickets to her –”

“ _Bzzzz!”_

“Stop that!” 

“You can’t just  _ give them  _ to her – she might think they’re both for her and then she’ll take someone else. You have to ask her to come  _ with  _ you – so what’re you gunna say? Try it out now, on me; pretend I’m Dinah or something.” 

“I don’t think so.” 

“Just do it you wuss!” 

“Fine! I-I, um...okay – Dinah, I-I wanted to ask you, um, if you wanted to-to go to a, uh, concert, date, thing with me – I have an extra ticket if you want, I mean, you don’t have to..–” 

“God this is so bad. It’s like watching a trainwreck.” 

“Well this isn’t happening! I’m still at square one,  practising what to say to her, except now I’m out fifty bucks!” 

“C’mon – you’re like, a total badass! You can take out guys like it’s nothing – can’t you just ask out one girl?” 

“Because that stuff is  _ easy!”  _ Helena heard her voice getting louder, anxiety expanding in her chest “I was taught on every precise way of how to kill a man since I was  _ your age,  _ I know that. But it’s not like I spent the same amount of years figuring out how to ask someone on a date!” 

“But –”

“Plus she’s not just  _ one girl,  _ she’s..Dinah..” Helena sighed, probably getting the dopey look in her eyes that Cass hates “She’s beautiful and sweet and tough and so talented; she could have anyone in the world, the best, and I’m in no way good enough for her!” 

Helena groaned, ending her cries of self-pity by letting her head slam down onto the table in defeat. She couldn’t do this. She wasn’t equipped. She doesn’t stand a chance and she could already picture Dinah kindly-but-awkwardly turning her down. 

“Dude you can’t give up! You don’t even know that – I already told you Dinah likes you!” Cass still plowed forward, hand hitting the bench and the other poking at Helena “You can do this; c’mon, I believe in you!” 

“Why?” Helena finally lifted her head up, propped up by her chin and furrowing at the tween. Cass became suddenly quiet, shuffling in her seat and shrugging. 

“I dunno. Because you’re like the coolest person I know.” 

“I thought Dinah was way cooler then me.” 

“Yeah she  _ is,  _ but in a different way, I told you that. You’re still cool with all that other stuff; I mean, you took down all those guys who were trying to kidnap me, you helped Harley chase after that Roman guy after he got me, and you even helped me by giving me your car and stuff..– you can do, like, anything, so why can’t you ask out Dinah you know?..” 

Helena didn’t say anything immediately, instead feeling a quiet smile draw over. While those things were still very different, Helena wasn’t going to argue it this time, instead taking the nice sentiment. Sometimes the kid could be sweet. And Cass was right in a way; she wasn’t completely inept, she was very capable, so why couldn’t asking out Dinah be yet another mission for her to conquer? She mastered any others she’s had so far. 

At that, Helena finally sat back up, ready to take another stab at this ask-out thing – if not for herself, then at least not to disappoint Cass. 

“Alright, lets keep going.” 

“Hell yeah!” 

Cass threw up her arms and Helena, grinning, didn’t quite have the heart to scold her for her language this time.

-

They  work-shopped for a couple more hours, out there on the park bench, until Helena finally had a step-by-step plan and an exact script to what to say to Dinah. She was humbly surprised by Cass’s patience and willingness to work through it; well, she was still thirteen, and would pinch her the more she stuttered through her sentence, but still guided her and gave her tips on what to say and what sounded better. After that they’d returned to the apartment and now Helena found herself sitting on the edge of her bed, Cass combing through her closet but really just throwing clothes to the floor. This was  suppose to be so Cass could help her pick out a potential date outfit, but all it was really doing, Helena thought, was making a mess on her floor. 

“God, do you own  _ anything  _ that isn’t black or grey?!”

“ _Yes_ I have –”

“Purple doesn’t count!” 

Helena slammed her mouth shut, glaring. 

“You need like, something actually good when you take her out. And dressing like a vampire won’t do it. What if you –”

The door suddenly swung open and footsteps followed inside.

“Ey! H, you home?” 

All the colour drained from Helena at the unmistakable sound of Dinah’s voice. Cass’s eyes widened too, and immediately she had her hands shoving at Helena’s shoulder, trying to get her up off the bed. 

“There she is! You gotta go! Now! It’s your moment!” 

“What, now?!” Helena  blanched as Cass pushed her; she dug her heels in but somehow this child who was half her size overpowered her and she found herself stumbling through the bedroom door, out onto the hall.

“Yeah! You gotta do it now; I know if you wait you’re gunna pussy out of it –”

“Lang –”

“and you’ll never do it!” 

Cass stopped her right at the front of the hallway, the two of them shadowed from where they could hear Dinah moving around the corner in the kitchen. Helena swallowed thickly, her heart in her throat. Oh god, it suddenly got so real.

“Just remember what we practised; we went over it like, a hundred times.” Cass said, slinking back into the shadows, giving Helena a thumbs up “Go, you got it! You’re a badass and Dinah likes you, you’ll ace it!” 

Helena wasn’t so convinced, but she knew there was no backing out now. Especially now that she was trapped in the hallway. So she turned back around from Cass. Closed her eyes and took a deep breath.  _ She’s got this. They  _ _ practised. _ _ Just follow the game-plan, just like your mission. _

Except that she was no where near as afraid of her mission work as she was  of this. 

Helena  tentatively walked out, curbing around into the kitchen where she immediately spotted Dinah. Her back was to the assassin as she stood over the bags on the counter, Helena sizing up the black tight pants and navy blue leather jacket she’d thrown on (blue really was her colour), aviator sunglasses still sitting atop the gorgeous  blonde braids. Oh god. Helena had just been practising with Cass, she had no idea how it was going to feel to not only say this but  _ look Dinah in the eye _ the whole time.

“H-Hey..” 

Dinah spun around, gaze clashing with Helena’s and that perfect sunshine grin spread over her lips. 

“Hey! You’re still here; I thought maybe you’d gone out.” 

“Still here.” Helena dared a couple steps forward, quietly clearing her throat again “How was your interview?” 

“Not awful actually. The guy who runs the club was pretty nice, not a total sleazy hack like Sionis, and it looked like he liked my performance; smiled and said he’d for sure call me within the next couple days, so, fingers crossed..” 

Helena nodded. Given her somewhat recently acquired wealth, she had more then enough change to keep Birds of Prey running and equipped and their apartment kept without everyone having to work, but Dinah wasn’t having it. Helena tried to be adamant in saying Dinah shouldn’t have to worry about that stuff, but in the end, knew she couldn’t say no to the songstress ( _ “it’s sweet H, but I’m not about to let you pay for it all, I’m not that kinda woman; I do my part.” _ ).

“Great, um, t-that’s great..” Helena stumbled, trying to find her segue. Thankfully Dinah was partly pre-occupied by removing groceries out of their bags, saying she picked up some stuff on the way, Helena making the appropriate noises of approval as she glances back over her shoulder.

Cass was still there, head poking around the wall, just out of site. Helena’s eyes widened in a silent _I don’t know what to do next this is out of my depth_ but all Cass did was make a shooing motion with her hands, urgent expression of _c’mon!_ Fine then. Helena took in another breath, already figuring there was no ‘perfect’ way to do this so she just had to _do it._

“Hey, so, uh, guess what?”

Dinah glanced back to Helena now, giving over another smile “What?..”

“You know, um, that club down near twenty-second street? The Green Room?..”

She’d walked over now to be beside Dinah, trying her damnedest to seem casual but didn’t know, honestly, where to put herself. In the end she chose to lean up against the counter with her arms crossed, hoping that was casual. She swore she heard Cass groan from down the hall.

Dinah, on the other hand, turned her head to her, watching the assassin. Helena tried not to get caught up in the deep browns, or the fact that, standing this close, she could faintly smell Dinah’s perfume that she swore made her knees wobble like a cartoon.

“Yeah; I like that one. What about it?”

“I know.” Helena smiled without forethought, quickly realizing her misstep “I-I mean, well, they’re putting on a show. Live music, next weekend. And I got two tickets..”

Now Dinah stops. She pauses from taking out the pack of Coke cans and milk from the bag to put them in the fridge, stopping to turn and stare at Helena. Not in poor taste or anything, just from shock – amused shock, if anything, from the way her brow jumped up and the smile threatening to break over her lips.

“ _Really?”_

“Mmhm.”

Dinah didn’t quite seem to know what to say, bemused expression as she yanks open the fridge door, sliding the drinks inside. Helena just tried to keep her cool – which, as was known, was fragile at best. And that got harder when Dinah walked up next to her, hand perched on the counter and head tilted up to the taller woman. She was grinning up at her, bright sunlight but like she somehow knew something Helena didn’t.

“And, not to be a jerk, but when do you buy tickets to go out to see live music H?..”

Helena swallowed roughly. Dinah was starring up at her with that familiar teasing warmth, that glint in those gorgeous brown eyes that often accompanied a jib or remark towards Helena – the ones Dinah loved to give her just to amusedly watch Helena go all ‘puffer-fish’ as Cass had called it, but were always in fair play, for jokes. And Helena knew that, had secretly come to like them if it meant getting special attention from Dinah.

She snapped back to the moment in front of her, staring right back at the songstress. She could answer this. Her and Cass had prepared for it. Helena already knew Dinah would find it kind of out of character for Helena to just invite her out to a crowded event with lots of noise – often, the only times she ever _goes out_ is when Dinah and Renee are yanking her by the arm. So she had to have a good reason and Cass agreed, telling her _and this is where you say something like –_

“..Cause I-I was hoping that you’d come with me..”

Dinah pauses and then the sentence hangs there in the air. Her smile dips slightly and Helena doesn’t know yet that it’s from surprise, so her stomach immediately plummets. Oh god, oh god she ruined it – she _knew it_ , she knew this wouldn’t work! Dinah could never want her; she was just an awkward, violent mess of a person who was in no way date-able –

And then the smile comes back. Dinah’s ducked her head down slightly but Helena caught it; a little shy and somehow even sweeter, creeping up to light up her whole face. Hope starts to cautiously fill Helena’s chest again. Finally, Dinah glances up at her, eyes bright and teeth biting into her grin.

“..You smooth motherfucker.” She murmured, a quiet laugh leaking out “..Yeah. Yeah, I’d love to H..”

“Really??” Helena smiled so quick and wide you’d think someone suddenly flipped on a lightswitch, with how bright it was. Dinah chuckled.

“Really..”

“T-That’s amazing, I-I’m so glad, really, it’s gunna be amazing – well, I mean, I-I think so, but, it..it’ll be good anyway, if you’re there, so..”

God that train detailed fast; she held it just long enough to do the ask out. Now Helena could feel her face burning up and she had to stop herself from word vomiting, exhaling steady. Dinah laughed again, sweet.

“Relax H..” She reached up, cupping Helena’s cheek with her thumb running over her cheekbone and Helena swore she could’ve combusted right then “The hard part’s over; you did good. No need to go full red..”

“That-that’ll only lessen if you take your hand off..”

Now she laughed louder and Helena couldn’t help a smile either. Dinah said yes. Dinah’s going on a date with _her._ Helena knew she’d be thanking Cass over and over after, but for right now, she stood there in the kitchen, laughing and chatting with her favourite person in the world.

Around the corner, Cass, who’d been watching it all unfold, was damn near giddy. She slunk back behind the walls to mask her grin, pumping her fists with a _yes yes!_ She _knew_ Helena could do it. Those dorks liked each other so much, they had to get together at some point.

She stuck her hand into her hoodie pocket, taking out her phone. She went into her texts to pull up the one with Harley’s name with the glittery heart emoticon next to it. There was already a text there from earlier she didn’t see that read _well?! what’s the prognoses kid??_

Cass scoffed and quickly began typing.

_mission success! it took all day but I got crossbow killer to get enough balls to ask out BC, and she said yes! now they won’t be making any more gross googly eyes at each other anymore I hope._

Due to Harley’s erratic ways, Cass can get a text from anytime between two hours and two weeks, so she’s surprised when one comes in only a couple seconds later.

_HELL YEAH!!!_

_told ya it would work! good work kid! knew that tall muscly weirdo had it hard for our birdie, and she cant say no to you either. the perfect plan!!!_

_I’ll swing by from my ‘mission’ a little later to pick you up ;) there’s gunna be some celebration pizza tonite!_

The last text was just an onslaught of the dancing girl and party blower emoticons, making Cass shake her head, grinning to herself.

-

“When are you gunna teach me to use these?”

“ _How did –_ don’t touch those!!” 

“Oh c’mon! Ninja stars are cool!” 

“They’re not _toys_ Cass! You have to be careful!” 

“Oh gee thanks _Mom.”_

“I’m serious, you could cut off a finger if you try to throw one!”

“Harley lets me use way more dangerous stuff then that, like knives and fire crackers!”

“Well she _shouldn’t!_ And just ‘cause Harley doesn’t have any rules doesn’t mean I don’t either; we’re gunna work our way up to weapons, but that time isn’t now.”

“Why not?!”

“Because I say it’s not! Look, do you wanna actually learn how to use these weapons and do real damage, or do you wanna try and pick pockets with only three fingers??”

“....”

“Good. Let’s get back to discussing what we’re actually focusing on, like your fighting stance.”

“You’re starting to sound way too much like Renee you know.”

“Renee would never let you touch a weapon and you know that.”

“..Fair. But look at them, see, I could do way more damage then just throwing punches –”

“ _What the –_ stop touching the ninja stars!!” 

Cass groans as Helena plucks the sharp metal from her hands for what felt like the umpteenth time. Helena had been giving Cass lessons – basic training lessons, on how to defend herself, how to throw a punch, the  general stuff that Helena wanted her to be equipped with less  something bad happen to her – and they’d just finished today’s. Now, after scarfing down a lunch of hotdogs, they were sitting at the skatepark where Helena was  suppose to drop Cass off to hang out. 

“I just wanna hold it!” 

“You don’t even know how to handle it Cass! Look, here,” 

H elena took Cass’s hand, gently placing the star into her fingers with her own hovering overtop, molding them how they needed to be.

“you have to hold it a certain way. There are different ways to throw it, vertically or horizontally, but you hold it the same way. Grab onto one of the points here – hold it between your thumb and your index knuckle, like this. Got it?..Good, it’s important to have a solid grip on it. If you don’t, you either mess up your throw or split your thumb right open..”

“Cool..” Cass murmured, admiring the weapon held between her fingers as sunlight glinted off it’s metal. Helena threw a hand up, wondering if she even heard a thing she was saying.

“You sure you should be giving that to a pickpocket?”

Both heads spun to the familiar voice. Dinah was walking up towards them, skateboard danging at her side from where she gripped onto the wheels. Helena already felt her heart leaping up in excitement; didn’t matter how long she’d known Dinah or how many days they spent together, she’s always her happiest when she gets to see her.

“You got it!” Cass jumped up, racing to Dinah to snatch the skateboard off her hand “Awesome!”

“Yeah yeah, you’re lucky I brought it over at all.” Dinah rolled her eyes, holding it up “So stop leaving all your shit at our place unless you wanna permanently loose it.”

“Uh-huh..” Cass muttered, already sitting back down and smoothing down the stickers peeling along the underside. Dinah just rolled her eyes again, making Helena scoff.

It was a good thing Dinah loves the kid as much as she did.

Helena suddenly felt soft fingertips under her chin, tilting her head up. She followed to find Dinah standing over her, that beautiful grin and brown eyes shining.

“Hey..”

“Hi..” Helena knows she’s got the dopiest smile on her face but she couldn’t find it in her to care.

Dinah leans down and Helena eagerly meets her for the kiss, humming quietly into it. Four months now, and that was never going to get old for Helena. Dinah tastes like that cinnamon gum she loves, that she always keeps in her pocket, and very faintly of the coffee they made this morning as they stumbled out of bed. Helena swore she could still feel Dinah gently kissing along her shoulder as she stood over the stove, trying to cook them breakfast despite her girlfriend’s ministrations.

“Ick.” Cass scrunched up her face when they separated. Dinah snorted, reaching across to yank Cass’s cap down her face.

“Don’t give me that.” She chastised “One day your gunna want to do all that gross shit with someone too.”

“Am not!” Cass had stood up now, throwing them a glare as she hopped on her board, gently rocking back and forth as she got her footing. Helena watched her, still feeling like this skateboarding stuff was dangerous. She’d been trying for a while to get Cass to wear a helmet with no avail.

“Puberty will come and get you eventually kid, there’s no escaping it. Happens to us all.” Dinah continues to smile at Cass’s sour look, making Helena chuckle “You’ll like someone one day. Boy, girl, whatever, you’ll wanna do all that cutesy hand-holding bullshit – though, you’re probably better off with a girl, because if it’s a boy Helena will probably kick his ass..”

Helena wanted to protest but realized that was probably correct. Teenage boys were not to be trusted and if any of them ever hurt Cass she’d throw out her _zero violence towards children_ rule real fast.

“Oh my god, just shut up! I don’t like _anyone_ and I’m not going to _ever –”_

“Hey Cass!”

All three heads turned, like clockwork, out to the skatepark. There was a girl Cass’s age approaching them; long red hair, skateboard in grip and baggy beanie and clothes like they could’ve come out of the 90’s.

“Oh, h-hey Alexis!” Cass called back, nearly tumbling off her own board as she hastily picked it up “What’s up??”

This girl, Alexis, stopped before Cass, smiled and shrugged “Nuthin’. I was just here to practice some of my grinds, then I saw you.”

“Oh, yeah, cool, cool..” Cass nodded, nervously rocking up on her toes. It didn’t take a genius to read her body language; even for Helena, who was notoriously bad at picking up ques. She raised her brow at the scene, flicking her eyes to Dinah. Her girlfriend was also holding back her amusement, biting into her smile and sharing the same knowing glance to the assassin. So much for not liking anyone.

“ _Woah,”_ Alexis suddenly leaned into Cass, fingers to her wrist, and the adults watched their pickpocket jump slightly “is that a _real_ ninja star?!” 

Helena had totally forgotten that Cass still had that. She should really take it back now, but couldn’t help the awe on the redhead’s face as she looked up expectantly at Cass, and how Cass shyly but giddily smiled back. 

“Y-Yeah, it is.” She said, holding the sharp piece up to see better “I was practising with them and stuff..” 

“ _No way.”_ Alexis grinned, excitement gleaming through blue eyes and exciting Cass too “can you actually, like, use one of them?..” 

“Oh, well, uh..–”

“Of course she can.” Helena found herself breaking in, trying to smile seamlessly at the curious looks from the girls “She’s pretty much a natural, perfected how to hold them and everything; just like I showed her, right Cass?..” 

Cass was a smart kid, so it only took a couple seconds of confused blinking up at Helena who was giving her a  _particular_ look to click in. 

“Oh! Right, yeah,” She spun back, carefully holding up the star eye-level so Alexis could see it “See, you have to hold it a certain way. You take one of the spikes, and you hold it between your thumb and second knuckle, see? They’re different ways to throw it but you hold it the same way every time, and you gotta hold it really tight or you screw up your throw or like, totally cut your thumb open, blood squirting everywhere..”

“Gross!” Alexis giggled “So, you can throw it..? I was thinking we’d use it to get those douchebags that’re always hogging the bigger grind pipe..”

“Well, um –”

“Sorry.” Helena stepped in once more, plucking the star from Cass’s fingers “Until you get your own, this one is still mine and doesn’t go on loan..”

“Lame!” Cass protested.

“S’ok. Figured it was a long shot.” The redhead shrugged, now taking a full glance at the two women, assumedly noticing their entwined hands because then she asks “These your moms Cass?..”

“What?! No, they’re...” Cass scrunched up her face at the two “they’re like..weird aunts..”

“Seriously?!” Dinah demanded “How’re we more embarrassing then Harley?!”

“I dunno, they seem pretty cool. Cooler then my parents anyway..” Alexis said. Cass glanced back to her family, catching Helena’s eyes. Quietly a smile pulled over her face, making Helena smile back, something mushy and sentimental squeezing her heart over this sticky-fingered kid she loved.

“Yeah, I guess they are..”

“Hey,” Alexis snatched Cass’s sleeve then, already tugging with a smile on her face “c’mon, I learned some new tricks I gotta show you!”

“Cool!” Cass beamed, racing after her crush and of course, Dinah and Helena are forgotten with no pleasure of goodbyes. Helena huffed, cupping her hand around her mouth.

“Harley will be here at three for you Cass so don’t wander off!!”

Cass didn’t turn around though. God knows if she even heard it. Helena sighed as Dinah chuckled. She felt the songstress lean into her side, clasped hands swinging.

“That filthy little liar..”

“I know..” Helena scoffed, trying to fight her smile “At least it’s not a boy..”

“It is kinda cute though..” Dinah glanced up at her girlfriend, not bothering to hide her grin “Almost as cute as watching you help her look cool in front of her crush..”

A modest blush rose over Helena’s cheeks, trying to shrug it off “Well, you know..”

Helena looked out to the skatepark, still able to pick out the young girls standing amungst the crowds. Alexis was on her board, making circles around Cass with her foot back and board kicked up to do a wheelie, and Cass was all but pivoting to watch her go round, that big dumb grin and ‘googly eyes’ she always accused Helena of. The assassin chuckled.

“Had to return the favour..”

“I get it – though, I should say, baby, it’s not like I ever thought you were _cool..–”_

“What?!”

Dinah cackled, eyes sparkling up at Helena’s snarl. She soon withdrew her claws at another loving attempt to ruffle her, rolling her eyes.

“Yeah, well, whatever I did, it worked on you did it?..”

“Well that’s really ‘cause I’m only in this for that great body..” Dinah grabs Helena’s belt, yanking her forward with a couple fingers splayed over Helena’s iron stomach. She scoffed back at the wide grin, unable to hold down her own smile.

Helena loved her so much.

“C’mon,” Dinah smiled as Helena leaned down to kiss the corner of her mouth, tugging at her hand “I’m sure we’ll hear all about the new crush later because that kid can never hold her tongue, but for right now you’re all mine..”

Helea beamed, happily taking her hand. She didn’t want it any other way.

**Author's Note:**

> If that was at all good for you, kudos/comments are all writers desire honestly. Everyone in this group always leaves such nice comments and compliments, y'all are great.
> 
> I'll also say, everyone writing up Helena/Dinah fic is doing amazing work (special shout-out to those of you who're writing smut...you're doing the lord's work and I appreciate every one of you), and aiding us through this rather trying time. I'm hoping to finish off my second part to 'you had me at hello', so be on the look-out soon enough!


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